Mixed-income neighbourhoods
“There’s always danger in social engineering but the very notion that there should be access to good-quality housing in all parts of the city regardless of one’s income … is where (the ideal of mixed neighbourhoods) comes from.”
—Liberal MPP Peter Milczyn  Toronto Star 11 April 2015

There is no doubt that housing costs are extremely high in Toronto and that affordable housing is difficult to find in the downtown core. It is also recognized by everyone that Toronto's public housing is in crisis with too many people trying to get a unit and many of the apartments and townhouses are falling apart.

It is also recognized that the federal and provincial governments are not going to put much money into new affordable housing or repair existing public housing stocks.

Are condos the solution?
So where does that leave us? Condos. Some see new private condo developments as gold mines that will provide housing for almost everyone.

As this Toronto Star news report states, social activists, city planners and some politicians and university professors feel that three changes to the provincial laws can solve our affordable housing problems.

1. Mixed-income neighbourhoods
Public housing can be re-built if developers are required to pay for public housing buildings along side of their for-profit rental and condominium residential buildings.

The new developments at Lawrence Heights and Regent Park are the models they want followed by all new developments.

2. Vertical diversity
Developers must include some affordable housing units in all of their new residential developments. They may be affordable rentals, rent-geared to income or affordable condo ownership.

3. Additional rent controls
All rental units in the city should fall under rent controls. This includes condo rental units. (This became law in Ontario in 2017.)

Who pays?
The activists say that all the new affordable housing units will not cost the public a nickel. The city will allow the developers to exceed existing building heights which will generate extra profits, some of which will pay for Inclusionary Housing.

Of course condos are not golden geese. The condo purchasers will be hit with higher prices up front and may have to pay higher common expenses down the road. Developers are already hit with heavy development costs and Section 37 contributions. When will enough be enough?

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